Wine Future: Rioja 2

Ryan’s Speech at WineFuture Conference in Logroño, Spain:

For the past decades the everyday consumer has been ignored. I’m not talking about the high end or even weekend wine geek, but rather the consumer who likes wine, wants a better bottle and could give a shit if the wine has terroir or 90+ points. They want to enjoy the wine for what it is, social lubricant,..

The problem is retailers, importers, and the press were all trying to sell the same package of BS that you need to “know wine” to love wine. It’s the teach first drink later model, which I believe leads too often to consumers afraid that they might do something wrong, and as a result they end up simply buying based on price and what the label looks like. Why, because they are the only things not trying to tell them that they aren’t smart enough to enjoy wine. The consumer has choices, or is starting to, and the internet is bringing us these choices.

these consumers now are talking about wine and buying wines, and are doing it with the tools they use to communicate within their social circles everyday.

Facebook, once a college meet up site, is now a place where brands are being built…While in another more recognizable form for many of us we have Social tasting note sites like Adeggaand Cellartracker which are allowing consumers to share online what wines they own and to see what their friends are drinking.

A lot of people laugh at these online tools but it reminds me of a quote I found online: “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” This was Western Unions response to the telephones invention.

Ironically similar statements are being made about blogging today. The truth is that we are seeing the fading away of yesterdays’ tools of communication, giving way to a new way of looking at wine.

Today’s consumers have voices. The internet have given them voices, And these voices are not your competitors or enemies, but rather clients, readers, buyers, and sometimes new friends.But the real truth is that the consumer is tomorrows critic. And in the end if they don’t know where Tempranillo comes from it doesn’t matter, they do know whether or not they like the wine. As a group they have an aggregated voice that is powerful and broad.

they will be the ones to buy your products, and share their thoughts with their friends, just like they always have. If you do not listen to them…you lose. If you choose to engage with them…you win.

Today the internet is also a conversation. It is not monologue it is a dialog. If you are not prepared to engage and talk to your consumer, be prepared for disappointment. Today’s consumer wants a conversation…no they expect one.

YEEEAAAPPP…. I could not agree more with you Ryan (Catavino ) ! Thanks.

Jancis Robinson M.W. : « I can’t honestly say that we solved the wine business’s problems. In fact I felt that we did not discuss its gravest ones – economic peril for so many – in enough detail.

Jancis Robinson M.W. – O.B.E & Robert Parker Jr

But the conference was certainly not a waste of time, and represented a huge coup on the part of Pancho Campo (seen at the microphone) and the Wine Academy of Spain team to have managed to get such a high-profile crowd together. »

« Tonight ( Friday 13th) in the hall of the Rioja Forum in Logrono Robert Parker sat at the head table overseeing a sold out auditorium of 450+ representatives of the wine world eager to share a glass with him. Kevin Zraly, the pre-eminent figure in wine education in the US & Pancho Campo MW, President of the Wine academy of Spain who organised the event, moderated the session. Catavino was there, live-blogging, photographing, tweeting, and recording tasting notes live on adegga.com, and I was part of the team.

He ( Robert Parker) spoke lucidly and passionately about his love of wines and his unpretentious style and incredible knowledge was somewhat captivating. For Parker the responsibility of the great winemaker is to “capture and translate the essence of your terroir and faithfully respect the vintage given to you by Mother Nature”.